Budget cuts hurt the elderly and disabled

I’m writing to ask that our legislators return to Helena for a special session to raise revenue and protect services for the elderly and disabled.

I’m a caregiver, a mother and grandmother that takes care of people in our community that rely on these services. Many of us caregivers are already struggling to make ends meet. For myself I’m always trying to cut corners to stretch my paycheck and I only buy the bare essentials. The people we care for are in a similar situation because they have a set income. If the price of gas or milk goes up something else has to give.

The proposed 10 percent budget cuts would make it nearly impossible for my family and consumers to survive. It scares me to think what these cuts mean for our future. Many caregivers won’t be able to keep working and will have to look for another job altogether, leaving the clients they have taken care of for decades.

Politicians like to say the right things, now we need them to do the right thing. I’m asking our legislators to return to Helena to find a way to raise revenue to keep the services our community depends on.

—Lynn Holman

Troy

My name is Penny Meyer. I live in Troy where I work as an in-home caregiver and I have worked in the healthcare field for over 20 years.

If the proposed $240 million budget cuts to health and human services go into effect it will not only hurt my job and my family’s income, but it will hurt my clients as well. Our clients are seniors and disabled Montanans that cannot live on their own without help. The cuts would mean they would not get the quality care they deserve. They would fall through the cracks as well and me and my coworkers.

I am asking for our legislators to stand up for the most vulnerable people in our community, and work together to raise revenue and fix the budget. Nobody likes paying more in taxes, but we don’t want to watch our seniors die either.

Go back to Helena and finish the job you were elected to do.

—Penny Meyer

Troy

There is a dire need for our Montana legislators to return to Helena for a special session to deal with our current budget crisis. Budget cuts to senior long term care are just wrong. As caregivers most of us live on a shoe-string budget and are forced to cut corners wherever possible. I care for two clients, one with multiple diagnoses and very disabled. The other is a young man with severe PTSD and anxiety. Before I became a home care worker I was a nurse for 47 years. The seniors and disabled persons in our community need a positive response from our legislators, working together and quickly.

Time is running out and too many people’s lives are at risk to get this wrong. We need you all to put partisanship aside, go back to Helena and work together to solve this crisis. If you don’t people will lose their jobs, their healthcare and possibly their lives. You have one job, to pass a balanced budget that supports the Montanans that elected you. Right now you are failing.

—Rebecca Parmentier

Troy